I've been interested in Spiritualism ever since I read the earlier version of Raymond Buckland's guide to spirit communication when I was in middle school. It definitely fits my belief system, and I just recently started getting more interested in it after identifying more closely with Wicca in the past. Right now I would say that Spiritualism most closely fits what I believe now.

I also recently started reading about Spiritism, which is why I was wondering what other people think of it. I don't like basing my beliefs off of any one book or set of books, which is why I've been reluctant to read The Spirits' Book without giving any criticism to what is said, especially when it comes to the examples.

I think it's better for me to stick with Spiritualism, but since I'm reading about Spiritism I was wondering what people think of it.

Interests:The paranormal is my absolute favorite thing in the world and I plan on studying it at school in the fall. I also like writing bike riding, reading, and hanging out with friends. My favorite holiday is Halloween ad my favorite season is fall.

Posted 25 June 2011 - 01:35 AM

I guess I don't understand what the difference is. Could you please explain it to me?

I'm a Spiritist as well as a Spiritualist myself so I'll explain this. The fundamental principles of Spiritism, enunciated by Allan Kardec in his seminal work The Spirits Book, are: (i) A belief in the existence of spirits - non-physical beings that live in the invisible or spirit world - and (ii) the possibility of communication between these spirits and living people through mediumship. There is a clear difference between the terms "Spiritism" and "Spiritualism":

Although there are many similarities between the two, they differ in some fundamental aspects, particularly regarding man's quest toward spiritual perfection and the manner by which the followers of each practice their beliefs. Spiritism teaches reincarnation or rebirth into human life after death. This basically distinguishes Spiritism from Spiritualism. According to the Spiritist doctrine, reincarnation explains the moral and intellectual differences among men. It also provides the path to man's moral and intellectual perfection by amending for his mistakes and increasing his knowledge in successive lives. For this reason Spiritism does not accept rebirth in animals as this would be retrogressive. Finally, unlike Spiritualism, Spiritism is not a religious sect but a philosophy or a way of life by which its followers live by. Its followers have no priests or ministers and do not follow any religious rituals in their meetings. They also do not call their places of meetings as churches, and instead call them by various names such as centers, society or association. Their activities consist mainly of studying the Spiritist doctrine, applying spiritual healing to the sick and organizing charitable missions.

As far as what I think it is really interesting and a very great religion to get into. I actually picked up on the subjects two falls ago and after reading a lot of stuff in there I believed for years I abandoned my parents science beliefs and took them up as my religion.